Zovio Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to Zovia's second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Vicky Shrey, Executive Vice President, Chief External Affairs Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good afternoon. Zovio's second quarter 2021 earnings release was issued earlier today and is posted on the company's website at www.zovio.com. Joining me on the call today are George Pernsteiner, Interim CEO, Office of the CEO, and Board Chair, Chris Bond, Executive Vice President of Operations and Office of the CEO, and Kevin Royal, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer. We would like to remind you that some of the statements we make today may be considered forward-looking. including statements regarding university partners and other programs and services, our ability to grow through acquisition, our ability to successfully integrate and leverage acquired companies, future revenue growth, EBITDA, financial and related guidance, and commentary regarding fiscal year 2021 and later. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Please note that these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. except to the extent required by applicable securities law. On the call today, we will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. In our earnings release, you will find additional disclosures regarding these measures, including reconciliations of these measures with U.S. GAAP. Note that these non-GAAP financial measures are intended to supplement GAAP financial information and should not be considered as a substitute for our GAAP results. please refer to our SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as well as our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, which we filed with the SEC earlier today for a more detailed description of the risk factors that may affect our results. You may obtain copies from the SEC or by visiting the investor relations section of our website. At this time, it is my pleasure to introduce our interim CEO, George Pernsteiner.

Thank you, Vicki, and welcome to our second quarter 2021 earnings call. Starting with our results for the second quarter 2021, we delivered revenue and other revenue of $69.2 million. and incurred a net loss of $4 million, or a loss of 12 cents per diluted share. Excluding non-GAAP items, our non-GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2021 was $800,000, or a loss of 2 cents per diluted share. Last quarter, we discussed the enrollment headwinds we faced at UAGC as a result of the new brand, as well as the longer-term impact of the COVID pandemic similar to many higher education institutions. According to the Persistence and Retention Report recently issued by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, new enrollment of college students in the United States, particularly of first-time students and students underrepresented in higher education, students of color, those from low-income backgrounds, and older students continue to show overall decline. In addition, the rate of college student persistence declined two percentage points in 2020, the largest one-year drop since 2009, when the Clearinghouse began reporting this measure. While COVID has had an impact on enrollments nationwide, this new, more virtual world has also presented opportunities for higher education to reimagine itself. Now more than ever, providing students an online platform for learning that is not only robust but engaging will prove critical. Colleges and universities are looking for a partner like Zovio that has demonstrated a track record of supporting the student life cycle and delivering favorable student outcomes. I believe Zovio is well positioned to bring technology and innovative services to institutions to help learners succeed. So those long term strategy is centered on bringing education opportunities to learners where they are. To do this, we will deliver education services that meet the diverse needs of universities employers and learners. In addition, we are enhancing our programs and services and we are expanding our skills to employment offerings to empower learners to better connect with in demand jobs. As we noted, we took actions to further strengthen Zovio operationally, as well as better position the company for long-term growth. These actions were centered on realigning our operations, including breaking down internal silos and increasing collaboration across the team, as well as broad-based cost reductions. We took additional actions in the second quarter, which Kevin will discuss shortly, that will bring our total expected savings to $40 million in calendar 2021. We are excited for what the future holds for Xovio and our ability to play an important role in enabling learners to advance their educational goals. Let me provide a brief update on the progress we have made in our search for Xovio's next chief executive officer. As mentioned on our last call, we have formed a search committee which has made good progress identifying the right blend of vision and talent to lead Xovio as an education technology services company. We have been impressed by the quality and caliber of individuals who have expressed interest in joining us as we work to set the company on a growth trajectory to deliver shareholder value for many years to come. While the work is not yet complete, we have confidence that our process will result in identifying the right leader for Zovio's future. With that, let me turn the call over to Chris to run through the highlights for the quarter.